Whew, the holiday flew by! It happened just as I suspected. I had these nice, long, aimless days at the beginning. Then our company came into town, my mother-in-law, and time just flew! We spent a lot of time just here at home, admiring our beautiful Christmas tree, eating lots of cookies, and just chatting away the hours. It was wonderful. I wanted to share

We are lucky enough to spend this holiday season at home here in Oregon. We have family flying out to stay with us and a schedule packed with fun activities like wine tasting, hiking and reading lots of books.We may even squeeze in a movie or two, but are being careful not to be too ambitious with our plans 🙂 To provide the most comfortable

I’m a little behind, only now posting about how my awesome Thanksgiving was. I enjoyed a long, relaxing morning of cooking. Friends came over and brought delicious food. We drank a lot of wine – a lot. And, aside from a little school work that morning, I focused on being present in my life. It was wonderful, but then I had to jump back into

Jay found this great recipe recently from NPR during a segment when they were interviewing Dorie Greenspan about her cookbook, Around My French Table. The recipe calls for stuffing and roasting a whole pumpkin. You will find lots of variations of recipes over the last couple years for stuffing pumpkins with some combination of these goodies (check out Epicurious and the NYT to see some others),

I discovered something pretty magical: homemade butter! I am not the first backyard homesteader to discover the wonderful simplicity of making homemade butter, but I am the first one in my house to discover it. The process is simple, simple, simple. Get some heavy cream, pour it half full into a jar, then shake-shake-shake for about ten minutes. Voila! The cream thickens to the point

It is hot, hot, hot in New York City during the summer and I am all about spending as little time as possible over a stove. Pasta is something I never got too excited about until this summer because it always seemed bland to me. I have been experimenting with new recipes that taste delicious and minimize cooking time, so I have changed my tune

Inspired by my earlier road trip this summer, I have been incorporating some new dishes into my cooking repertoire. By far the most challenging aspect is working in such a trimmed down kitchen. Our apartment has 12″ of counter space, very limited spices, no measuring spoons, and only a wooden spoon for cooking utensils. But I remain determined to make good food this summer, even

The road trip is over, for now. I was driving over the Staten Island Bridge heading into Brooklyn when my trip meter wound past 6,000 miles. What a long drive and how exciting to be home – however temporary that home may be. We hauled my suitcase, my watercolors and my books up three flights of stairs. After a few days of getting settled in,

Oh, the wonders of a greenhouse! The Urban Farm has a pretty simple, plastic greenhouse that has been keeping me well-fed for the past month. This lovely photo is an abundant harvest from a couple weeks ago. Today we hauled out about twenty pounds of these fabulous greens. What we are looking at includes, starting at the top left and working clockwise, a) Romaine lettuce,

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Hello homesteader! I'm Renee Wilkinson and this is where I've chronicled my adventures in homesteading since 2007. Here you will find 1,000+posts on modern homestead projects, edible landscape design and the occasional life update. Read More…